Temporary and instant bite raiser in the fixed orthodontic treatments

ABSTRACT

The dental appliance includes a bite raiser body having vestibular and palatal sides. The vestibular side includes proximal wings for connecting the body to a molar tube. The body includes arms diverging toward the palatal side and terminating in an interconnecting base. A T-shaped spur projects outwardly from the base. The arms include a pair of occlusal stops and the base has an occlusal stop, all stops projecting within the arms and base. By connecting the insertion wings to the molar tube and connecting the spur to the tooth, the occlusal stops overlie the occlusal surface, raising the bite.

Orthodontic treatments are performed by using removable and fixedappliances. Fixed appliances methods are developing continually.

The prevention of the occlusal contacts may be occasionally necessaryduring fixed orthodontic treatments. Treatment of some cases such asdeep-bite, cross-bite and scissors-bite with fixed appliances, it isusually necessary to open the bite temporarily in order to preventbracket shearing and to allow for easy tooth movement.

In the treatment of deep bite cases, bonding of the lower incisorsrequires a certain time. Since, on such cases the bite must be openedsufficiently before bonding, of the lower incisors. Otherwise, the upperincisors may cause the shearing of those brackets.

In the treatments of the “buccal non-occlusion” and “telescopic bites”,the bite must also be raised to allow for easy tooth movement.

Likewise, in the treatment of the “anterior and posterior cross-bites”;temporarily opening the bite will ensure easy tooth movement and easyexpansion in a short time.

Out of the above mentioned reasons, raising the bite, may be necessaryin many cases.

Temporary and instant raising of the bite, during fixed orthodontictreatments are commonly obtained by using removable occlusal plates.However, the application of these plates, beside of their difficulty ofusage, requires complete patient co-operation.

Bonding of restorative materials on the occlusal surfaces of theposterior teeth can be performed, alternatively. Application of thesematerials is an appropriate method for bite opening however the adhesiveforce of these materials is nor sufficient to resist to the occlusalforces due to the absence of cavity preparation. Also, this method couldnot ensure the hygienic since, the rest of these materials could not becleaned sufficiently after their usage.

Review of the literature revealed that this subject is quiet ignored.Fine, in deep-bite cases, has bonded “Begg” brackets to the maxillarycentral incisors to prevent the shearing of the lower incisor brackets.Furthermore, the shearing of the lower brackets were tried to beprevented by using lingual brackets which are as fragile as the lowers.More over, this is not an invention, nor a different wire bending. Thisis a different use of the existing treatment accessories.

J. Donald Kinkade has developed an anatomical mouthpiece which relatesto mouthpieces which are used in underwater breathing devices such assnorkels and regulators and also to mouthpieces which are used ininhalators and gastric tubes for medical treatments (Document U.S Pat.No. 5,203,324). This device is used to facilitate breathing for scuibadivers and patients who are attached to life supporting medicalmachines. Although this device has an occlusal part, it has not anyrelation with “bite raising in orthodontics” nor “bite opening”.

To solve the limitation of instant and temporary bite raising duringfixed orthodontic treatments, I developed a special wire bending and Ipublished it's usage as a case report in the Journal of TurkishOrthodontic Society, in 1995. Same year, I presented it in the name of“Semi-fixed Temporary Bite-raiser” in the 71^(th) Congress of EuropeanOrthodontic Society, in Bergen-Norway. This article is also published inthe April 1999 issue of the Journal of Clinical Orthodontics. Since it'sfirst publication, with my clinical experiences, I developed theoriginal model and reached to it's final form, which became nowavailable to the serial fabrication. In other words, it resembles toit's original by it's function, but it's form and usage facilities aretotally developed. Due to these properties, it became also a commercialarticle.

The aim of this invention, is to instantly and temporarily raise thebite, as described above. However, the most important is that thebite-raiser does not necessitate patient co-operation since, it istightened to the molar tube by its proximal wings and this peculiarityensures success of the treatment, in a short time. Furthermore, it isalso valuable for its optimal hygienic conditions. It has nopathological effects on the molars due to its temporary usage. Molarintrusion may be observed in a long time application and this reversibletooth movement can be compensated with arch bending.

This instant and temporary bite raiser can be preferred and recommendedon

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a bite raiser in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the bite raiser of FIG. 1 angled tooverlie the occlusal surfaces of a tooth; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the bite raiser hereof mounted on the tooth.

The dental appliance hereof, i.e., the bite raiser, generally designated10, preferably includes a bite raiser body 12 constructed from 0.8-1.0mm. Cr—Ni, titanium, stainless steel or similar metals. The vestibularside of body 12 includes a pair of insertion wings 14 serving to insertthe bite raiser into the molar tube 16 (FIG. 3) and a pair of proximalwings 18, extended from the insertion wings 14. Wings 18 serve to attachthe bite raiser 10 to the molar tube by an elastic ring or a ligaturewire. Body 12 includes first and second arms 20 extending betweenvestibular and palatal sides of the body 12 for in part overlying theocclusal surface of the tooth with an angle according to the anatomicalform of the molar tooth (FIG. 3). The arms terminate at respectiveopposite ends of a base 21 on the palatial side of body 12. Foroverlying the occlusal surface, three occlusal stops 22, 24 and 26 areprovided. Stops 22 and 24 extend inwardly from the arms 20 toward oneanother. Stop 26 extends from base 21 toward stops 22 and 24. Stops 22,24 and 26 can be bent to the occlusal pits of the molar tooth toincrease the stability and height of the bite raiser. The body 12 iswider on the palatal side and narrow on the vestibular side with arms 20inclined toward one another in a direction toward the vestibular side.This shape enables reinforced palatal angles between the base 21 andarms 20, on the palatal cusps of the molar tooth. The reinforcement ismade by widening the metal surface on the palatal angles, i.e., byhaving large interior radii 27 between the arms 20 and base 21. On thepalatal side, there is a “T” shaped palatal spur 30 (or T-hook), servingto attach the raiser to the palatal part of the molar band (FIG. 3).This T-hook could also be bent to the opposite side, in the condition ofthe insufficiency of raising the bite, i.e., to extend the raise of thebite.

FIG. 3 illustrates the dental appliance body 12 overlying the occlusalsurface of a tooth with the insertion wings 14 in the molar tube and theproximal wings 18 facilitating attachment of the bite raiser to themolar tube by an elastic ring or ligature wire.

I claim:
 1. A dental appliance for temporarily raising an individual'sbite comprising: a bite raiser body having vestibular and palatal sidesconnected to one another by a pair of spaced arms inclined toward oneanother in a direction toward the vestibular side; said vestibular sidehaving a pair of wings projecting laterally for insertion into a molartube to secure the appliance on a vestibular side of a tooth; said armson the palatal side terminating in a base interconnecting said arms;first and second stops extending from said arms in a direction generallytoward one another intermediate said wings and said base and a thirdstop extending from said base and between said arms, said stops beinglocated to overlie occlusal surfaces of the tooth; said palatal sideincluding a palatal spur projecting from said base in a direction awayfrom said stops for securement to the tooth.
 2. A dental applianceaccording to claim 1 wherein said spur is generally T-shaped.
 3. Adental appliance according to claim 1 including a pair of proximal wingsforming continuations of the insertion wings to facilitate securement ofthe body to the molar tube.
 4. A dental appliance according to claim 1wherein said stops are deformable to extend into occlusal pits of themolar tooth.
 5. A dental appliance according to claim 1 wherein saidarms project from opposite ends of said base and have regions betweeneach arm and the base for reinforcing the juncture of the arms and thebase adjacent opposite ends of said base.
 6. A dental applianceaccording to claim 5 wherein said regions include large radii alonginside surfaces of the arms and the base at each juncture therebetween.7. A dental appliance according to claim 1 wherein said third stopextends from said base and terminates short of said first and secondstops.